Pros
1. Learning about re-entry 2. Working with clients (aka students) 3. Making re-entry connections 4. Free food
Cons
1. Parking. It's horrible. Only certain staff have access to a parking lot on Hill and the smaller lots on Amity's property. 2. Safety and security. Amity's Amistad location is near USC, so there's a lot of homelessness, violence, and drug use in the area. There are no security guards ensuring that staff are safe. There have been several issues with the homeless encampments and another halfway/sobriety house down the street. One time there was a shoot out at one of those warehouse businesses. I think they attacked the security guard at that place and threw a Molotov cocktail at a car...not sure if someone died. But yeah, good luck out there. The only "safe" place is across the street where the students live, but they have probation officers and correction officers whose primary focus in watching the students. 3. The area. Again, it's not in a safe and clean place. There's a lot of homelessness, drug use, feces, and other stuff going around in that area. The good thing that there was a building that was knocked down where there was a lot of drug use and sales going on. Maybe you all will get a parking lot there! 4. Staff. A lot of the times the incompetent staff get promoted because they are either kissing up to the higher ups or they know someone (e.g. there's a couple of directors that were brought over from Goodwill because of the CEO's wife). I had a coworker who didn't know how to use basic computer skills, but yet got promotion. Go figure. Also, there are several former students that are working at Amity because they knew the founder. She gave them all an opportunity to work at Amity after they finished their time in the program, and now they're managing the place! I can understand the concept of promoting from within, but most of the time they lack the fundamental leadership skills, empathy, and understanding for the students and staff. Sometimes the staff could be cool and other times not really. 5. HR sucks. From the experience I had of being hired and getting onboarded, it took a month or more. I understand with CDCR it takes longer to clear, but the lack of communication and direction from HR sucks. Also, they tend to worry about little things instead of focusing on the true needs of their employees. 6. Favoritism. You'll read about it through the other reviews, but it's true. There's a lot of favors in this place. If you're in the in crowd, you're good. By that I mean if you like to live the "community" life and spit nonsense, then you're a perfect match for here lol. You'll find out that a lot of the things they do aren't related to a therapeutic community. It's more like a cult. You'll notice they have circle meetings and gatherings for staff and students. I could care less about sharing about my feelings. I'm here to work and that's it. 7. Management didn't care about their employees. Everything was about numbers. They want you to do more for little pay. I don't think I've ever seen upper management come and introduce themselves to me while I was there because a majority of the time they were working from home. What a lovely life to live...while the rest of us are dealing with the issues I mentioned above. 8. Lack of training and upward mobility. Again, it goes back to what I mentioned above. If you're cool with them because you kiss up, you're set to move up within the company. 9. Pay was not enough for everything we do to help people get acclimated back to society and their communities. Pay more and help people obtain the skills and knowledge they need to be successful in their roles, and want to stay. 10. Turn around rate is high...well from what I've heard it is because at some point there was a lot of jobs they were trying to hire for. I think they still have that but they might also be hiring more because they keep being greedy in trying to get more grants. More grants = more money for Amity's higher ups.